Dear parishioners and friends of St. Therese Chinese Parish,

Greetings of Christ’s Peace and Joy! Hope you all had a blessed week.

THANK YOU

My time at St. Therese so far has been busy, but enjoyable and fulfilling. You have made me feel at home. Thank you for your warmest welcome, the fruit basket, and the wonderful gathering. Thank you to members of the Sacred Heart League for inviting me to morning coffee in our community room and for teaching me a few Cantonese words. Thank you to so many volunteers who have generously given their time and talents to our community: Henry Chan along with his wife Jennifer, Edy Gunawan and Lisa Tanasaleh, Joe and
Christine Delfin, for painting my room; Edy for getting our computers working in the office and for updating our website; Rose Marie and Perry Lau for cleaning our church this past Saturday; Dorothy Albanese and the members of the Sacred Heart Ladies for watering our beautiful garden; and thank you to all who came this past Tuesday for beef-stringing. I am both amazed and inspired by your generosity and faith. Please keep up your good work!

PRAYER LIST

I spoke about the importance and power of prayer last weekend at my homily. As disciples, Jesus invites us to pray constantly, not only for ourselves, but for others as well, especially the sick and the needy. As a community of faith, we must pray for each other. One of the things that will help us to pray for the needy is to know their names. So we would like to compile the names of those who are sick, homebound, and hospitalized or preparing for and recovering from surgeries into a prayer list. This list will be published regularly in our weekly bulletin. Due to confidentiality and privacy laws, the names can only be added or removed at your request. If you, your family, or your friends are experiencing health problems and would like our prayers as a community, please call the parish office at 312-842-6777 and have your/their names added to our Prayer List.

GARDEN CLUB

One of the treasures we have at St. Therese is our beautiful garden. Fr. Michael and his helpers did a great job to plant it. Now we have to keep it up. While we have people to water it, my hope is that we can have a Garden Club, consisting of people who enjoy planting and taking caring of gardens. If you are interested, please call me or talk to me either before or after Sunday Masses.

THE WORD

The story of the Good Samaritan invites us to show compassion and care to those who are in need. It invites us to ask ourselves: when is it that we are most moved with compassion? Can we refuse to help “the beaten person on the road”? The commandments to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves are “something very near to you, already in your hearts.” We know the commandments, let’s “Go and do likewise.”

Have a peaceful and joyful Sunday and week.

Fr. Francis

+ FORCE Foundation Scholarship

The FORCE (Future of Our Children’s Education) Foundation is proud to announce the 2010-2011 FORCE Foundation Scholarship. Scholarships will be awarded to active parishioners who are students in elementary and high school in amounts of $500, $750, and $1,000. Applications will be judged on both academic merit and financial need. Completed applications are due by August 9th and all applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision by September 1st.

For more information or to request an application, please email FORCEFoundation@aol.com

+ Chinatown Summer Fair

Our Summer Fair Committee—Jennifer Sin, Raymond Lin, and George Lee—and volunteers have been working hard to get ready for the 31st Annual Chicago Chinatown Summer Fair on Sunday, July 18th, from 10am to 8pm. It will be a day filled with delicious foods and great fun! Please plan to attend and invite your family and friends too!

This year marks the fourth year St. Therese will be participating in this event. We will be offering a variety of Asian foods and refreshments, so make sure to stop by our booth at the corner of Alexander and Wentworth!

Along with the great food, we will be providing FREE live entertainment by local musical guests 23-7 and self-led church tours. New to our tour this year will be the Prayer Garden and “Wall of Fame,” highlighting scenes from our history. Plus, all donations collected will be DOUBLED by an anonymous donor and will help us to reach our goal for the Church Preservation Fund!

JOIN THE WALL OF FAME! This year's theme is, “Our Priests and Nuns,” dedicated to the religious who served the parishioners of St. Therese Mission over the years. So dust off those old photos of any of our past priests and nuns, and bring* or email them to us so we can add them to our Wall. Scans can be dropped off at the rectory or emailed to Wendy at wendyst@gmail.com. A portion of proceeds from this event will be sent to the first missionary order that worked at St. Therese, the Maryknolls, in thanksgiving to the priests and nuns it sent to our aid during the mid-1900's.

See you in the “St. Therese Detour” at the Chinatown Summer Fair!

P.S. We are still in need of volunteers before the event and on the day of the event. If you are able and willing to help, please contact the parish office.

+ St. Therese Church “Preservation Fund” and “Matching Contribution”

The renovation of our church in the year 2000 transformed it from a dark space to a beautiful place of worship, harmoniously blending the beauty of the Asian culture with the splendor of Western sacred art.

To preserve our beautiful church and to ensure proper maintenance, we are establishing the “St. Therese Church Preservation Fund” with a funds target of $50,000. This will help address the imminent needs of the facility.

A generous donor has offered to match the funds that we can raise between July 1, 2010 and October 31, 2010, up to $25,000. So to reach our goal, all we’d need to raise now is only $25,000!

Help prevent another major, more costly renovation project, and let’s set up a preservation fund instead. We have raised $1,000 so far. Donate today to double your impact and prevent wasting the generosity of our matching donor!

+ Cantonese Mass on July 25, 2010

Fr. Cuff will celebrate Cantonese Mass for us at 9:30 A.M. on Sunday, July 25, 2010.

+ Guitar Mass

There will be a Guitar Mass on Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 9:30 A.M.

+ CCD Summer Music Camp - NO CLASS on July 18, 2010

Due to the Chinatown Summer Fair, the CCD Summer Camp will not have class on July 18th.

We will resume the session the following week on July 25th (10:45 AM - Noon). See you then.

+ Relevant Radio 930AM/950AM

Take your faith beyond Sunday and into the rest of the week with Relevant Radio! It’s Talk Radio for Catholic Life! Tune in to Relevant Radio 930 AM or 950 AM. Listen online at www.relevantradio950.com.

+ Does your company match donations?

Remember to check if your company matches donations - your gift could be multiplied!

+ PARKING

The church parking lot needs to remain available for the workers on the day of the Summer Fair—July 18th, so anyone who is not working at the Summer Fair or attending Mass at the time is kindly asked to please exit the lot.

*Submissions cannot be returned, but you are welcome to use the church scanner available from now through Saturday 7/17. Also, feel free to add to the Wall during the event, but scanning will not be available on that day.

+ Summer Fair

+ The Samaritan

+ The Story of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and His Companions

+ Monies: